13: Rift
by Wandering7Doctors
Summary: The 13th Doctor decides to attend a sporting event where she encounters a grand revolution brewing and the possibility of a new ally. The 13th Doctor Adventures: Year 1 (Part 2)
1. Sports just one Galaxy away

The Doctor never missed a sporting event. She could travel and see every Olympic event, except for the one she technically helped carry the torch for in 2012. Contests of strength, brilliance, and courage were all made available with ease. She did her best to mitigate her involvement, even participation via sitting in on an event could be disastrous. Still, opportunity arrived in terms of an event she had never heard of before.

 **Rift Fighter Supreme**

She found a flyer to it on a market wall. It called to her in a way that could not be ignored. In terms of the 'current' timeline of this incarnation, it was occurring in a galaxy a lightyear away… in ten minutes. A quick hop in the Tardis got her there in less than one.

Quickly flashing psychic paper got her to be recognized as a sports journalist; front-row seating and the chance to meet the athletes who came from all over to compete. She marveled at the beauty of seeing Sontarans, Zygone's, Ice Warriors, and human face each other in contests that did not require war and slaughter. Sportsmanship existed even the coldest regions of space, granted there were also signs of species superiority and discrimination but they were downplayed significantly from the norm. The positive atmosphere couldn't distill the itch that formed in the back of her mind. The Tardis had allowed the Doctor to bend space and time instantly, without any of the usual friction, which meant her being here was desired.

That helped the Doctor know more than anything else how something horrible was on its way.


	2. A Grand Game

The Doctor inspected the arena, trying to find an explanation for how this sport worked. A stage was full of small pits where silver orbs rolled up and around at random intervals. An antigravity field made most of them hover but a few of the pits forced players to slip into the abyss while others shot them up towards the ceiling of the dome where this was conducted. It stood at 50 yards of space with blue circles at either end that functioned as a goal post. A scoreboard hovered outside the dome, broadcasting the lack of points scored with a clock that gave a psychic field so that the time remaining could be interpreted in any languages.

While most observed the arena, the Doctor's curiosity caused her to look below and see something peculiar. A singularity, like a deep purple gash in space was five feet below. Gravity from gap in time and space bent and manipulated the flow of players which made them shoot about like bullets. Even Sontarans wouldn't be limited by speed. Best guess, players had to catch the balls and somehow knock them into the goals. This demanded a precision that the Doctor found fascinating.

Physics with cleats, that was what sports ultimately were in the end.

A warning bell sounded and two gates opened in the middle on the arena and opposing teams came out. Judging from physics alone, the Doctor surmised that the team in blue were Sontarans while the team in red were humans. The main colors of both teams were expressed on the chest, helmets, arms, and legs with splashes of white on the sides as well as the underside of the arms and inner thighs. The helmet had solid black visors that shined in the overhead lights, anyone's face could be behind them. Numbers decorated the backs in dark black colors. The Doctor's eye was drawn to number 77, a woman according to her figure, who may not have been the tallest but carried herself as team leader. Slight shifts of her helmet made the Doctor grin, they were both reading the land. Without pausing, 77 kicked off in the air followed quickly by four other teammates while eight others moved to a nearby bench where a forcefield appeared that covered the slight gap between the audience and stadium, transparent enough to not take away from the action. 77's allies included a tall man (35), a woman the same size as 77 (16), a heavily muscular man (8), and a shorter man who struggled with his size and shape to not be a cannonball (5). They quickly got into formation, forming a semi-circle with the opposing team to form a solid orb in the center. A black-white striped cylinder zipped down from above and hovered thanks to its own engine, unaffected by the gravitational pull. It kind of reminded the Doctor of a zebra-patterned candle. The Doctor could feel the tension in the air, her nose twitched at the slight odor of alcohol and body odors of individuals who clearly have waited outside the arena for days without knowing a shower. She loved it, traveling about history was one thing but witnessing it on any level left her excited.

 _GREETINGS ALL WHO DARE TO WITNESS THE CHAOS BEFORE YOU_

The cylinder's electronic voice boomed, amplified by speakers that channeled the noise directly into whatever means of hearing any were capable of. Those who were hearing impaired or did not communicate sound had small screens projected in front of their faces to express the madness in blood-red text or with visual body-language signs. All cheered in unison.

 _THE TIME HAS COME TO SEE WHO STANDS TALL IN THE RIIIFFT!_

The scream was deafening, the Doctor feared for her later incarnations who would probably be haunted by her decision to attend such an event without earplugs. She suspected that the helmets commanded such a purpose since they barely flinched at the intense volume or smells that seemed to increase with the noise in ways the Doctor would not dare to seek an answer to.

 _THEN LET'S GET IT OOOONN!_

The cylinder spun rapidly counter-clockwise and spiraled high into the air. A barrier formed around its frame. It changed colors, each shade promised a step closer to madness. The color was a solid red and the teams settled into formation. Yellow light, they locked arms on either side. Generators hummed as the gravity fields activated to create varying formes of descent and ascent.

 **Green**

Three silver orbs shot up at the teams with enough force to send them flying. The suits seemed to serve as a form of defense, 8 took a direct hit to the gut, but didn't seem to be in any pain. In fact, he took advantage of it and spun an orb right for 5 who performed a spin kick and the game was on. They flew about, steaks of silver with slightly slower bundles of red and blue. The five red players struggled to get a proper shot, the Sontarans smashed into them with brutal force. Armor protected the red team from fatal hits but it also stunned them from making a proper attempt at getting a goal. A viscous skirmish with no end occurred in the center of the arena but a single blue teammate broke through, silver orb floating right within kicking distance of a defenseless goal.

77 must have given a command through the helmet, 35 flipped about and kicked off her Captain with her feet. The Captain soared forward just as the Sontaran kicked. Somehow 77 turned about when the ball was out of reach of her hands and grabbed it with her legs. She kicked it aside before the orb touched the gate. 77 hooked around the rim of the gate and soared to the other side, grabbed the ball, and rushed forward. Two of the Sontarans noticed her and used the nearby gravity pitfall to create a rush of speed. The Doctor noticed something rather curious about the collision to occur, Sontarans were impressive sharp shooters and brawlers, but they were unbelievably sluggish when it came to being fast in a fight. 77 danced around the first one and leapt over the second by kicking off the first. The remaining three blue players were starting to rush for their goal, they'd block anything she could send out in less than a minute. 77 motioned and her team followed the command. 8 and 16 took one of the balls and after tossing back and forth for momentum they shot it at the opponent's goal. Two of the Sontarans stopped the possible goal and created a gap. 77 looked down and the Doctor followed her gaze, grinning with the mutual conclusion. With a quick spin, 77 tossed the orb towards a pit and let the gravity manipulation launch it behind the remaining Sontaran. A buzzer blared out and the score changed to one.

The game carried on for a bit, both sides scored but nothing beat the goal at the beginning, that one ensured the red team's victory. Time blurred, even by the Doctor's standards, and the score resulted in the red team winning by 20-14. The final buzzer boomed and the crowds cheered or jeered in unison, the Doctor cheered.

Something made the Doctor pause, she hated it as much cherished how it saved lives. One of the Sontarans looked stiff, more than usual, and his comrades had drifted away from him. Also, 35 was trying hard not reveal that he had broken his arm in the skirmish, after being hit by the Sontaran who stood still. A deep hum echoed in her ears, and only then did the Sontaran move towards an exit while his comrades had already left to recuperate. The members of the red team grouped together, creating a make-shift shield around 35. There was a desperation in the action that made the Doctor stand. With a deep breath, she sighed.

It had been a fun game, but now work needed to be done.

She walked through the throngs celebrating and booing but was ignored. The Doctor rolled up her hood and began to think of the possible, terrible, reasons why athletes would behave oddly. Oh yes, this would be an interesting one to investigate.


	3. Max

Being a sports journalist meant the Doctor could easily wish to grab a quote from the winners, and maybe find out why certain athletes were guarded or ignored. She snuck about, working off of ACCESS RESTRICTED signs to find where she needed to go. A set of stairs led to the distinct odor of sweat and a trail of blood drops for her to follow, opposite the cheers of the crowd. Her ears picked up a different sound as she got closer, cries of agony struggling to be muffled.

"Just bloody breathe, Frank, we got to get this reset before the Sponsor comes."

The alleged 'Frank' did his best to follow the woman's advice but it proved difficult. Footsteps shuffled about, the Doctor just needed to round a corner and she'd be on top of them. The tension made sneaking in a very poor decision. She had to wait up, find an opportunity.

"Max, it's no good," the other woman said. "There was blood in the hallway… they'll know."

"Course there's blood, it's a bloody sport, Lamina. That could have come from anyone. Hell, give me a bloody nose and we'll it blame on that. They don't take you for noses, not yet."

The Doctor surmised that Max was most likely 77, with Lamina as 16 and Frank as 35. So, she thought, people were being taken away if the injuries are bad enough to be 'fixed'. She had flashbacks to what this kind of thinking led to, but Cybermen were never created from other aliens since they are a human design for human brains. That Sontaran had clearly been 'fixed' but maintained his, its, body. _That broken arm wasn't random._

There no time to waste.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance."

Lamina yelped, there was a crash, and Frank howled while the others stumbled to get into positions the Doctor believed they would be used to cause her bodily harm. A sudden rush of footsteps made her take a step back. The Doctor ducked as a red helmet smashed into the wall and a woman kicked at her. She blocked the kick, caught the wrist holding the helmet and spun her attacker against the wall. They both probably saw different things. The Doctor saw a young woman with Asian features and black hair put in a ponytail with anger at the person trying to get her teammate killed, the Doctor guessed this was Max. Whatever the Doctor had in her eyes made Max decide this wasn't the person to bludgeon.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," she said. "Saw your game, saw your friend get hurt and thought I might help."

"Doctor," Max narrowed her eyes at the blonde woman. "You from the Sponsor?"

"Never had one," the Doctor said. "I'm thinking that I should take out advertisements. I go all over the place, I could make a lot of cash with the frequent flyer miles." The wit was not really timed well, Max just got annoyed at her words.

"Okay, sorry, I don't know who these Sponsors are but I promise you if there's a way, I will help Frank."

"How do y—"  
"Your voices carry a bit, Max, might be wise to keep quiet if these Sponsors are listening."

Max closed her eyes irritably and realized the fault.

"Can you help him?" She had a hard time looking the Doctor in the eyes.

"Of course," the Doctor said. "I'm a fan."

This made Max smirk a little bit and they rushed over. Frank was laid out on a bench with Lamina, 8 and 5 formed a wall in front of her. The Doctor could see bone sticking out, if it hadn't been for the suit, Frank would have lost an arm easily.

"I'm here to help." The Doctor said.

"Like Hell I'm letting anyone near my brother." 8 said, they had the same dark hair that proved a familial bond.

"She wants to help and everyone else wants to chop us up, Freddie, let's take our chances." Max said. "This is what we have to work with." She gestured towards a bundle of first-aid kits that were in disrepair. "They don't exactly want us staying in one piece if we can't become a product."

A few bits of tape and vials with healing fluids almost completely spent.

"I've worked with less." The Doctor said, no reason to tell them that she did actually very little work that could be considered medical. She knelt down and hovered her hands over the injury. The tape was in one hand.

"Well, that's interesting."

"What?" Frank said "Wh-mmm!"

The Doctor slapped the tape over his mouth.

"How much you're going to hate me for saving your life."

The Doctor gripped the arm and pushed. Frank howled through the tape but the others held him down. The one thing that stopped Freddie from slamming a fist in the Doctor's face was the fact that his brother's shoulder had been reset. She used what was left of the tape and two flat pieces of wood from a splintered bench to brace the injury. The Doctor ripped the tape away from Frank's mouth, he grunted but managed to keep the volume to a manageable grumble. Max and the others helped to get Frank onto his feet.

 **What's going on B-Buddies?**

They all turned around at the stranger who came out of the adjacent hallway to the one the Doctor entered from. This man walked up to them with a song in his step, whirl of gears in his head, and a black fedora with a suit and glasses the same color. His flesh was iron with a smile of copper that sparked as he grinned at Frank's agony.

 **S-Sayyy, Frankie, b-buddy, you don't look too good**

His smile widened.

Max stepped forward.

"My teammate's tired, Sponsor," Max said. "It was a hard-won match. Nothing else is required." The Doctor wondered, from the strain in her voice, how many teammates, friends, did these words fail to save.

 **Nonsense!**

The Sponsor stepped forward. Two of Max's teammates rushed him. He swatted them aside, whistling with glee as he stepped closer. Max grabbed her helmet and tried to slam it into his head. The Sponsor caught it.

 **Now, M-Maxie, that's rude**

He flipped her and Max's teammates had to rush in to save her from a neck-breaking fall. The Sponsor stood in front of Frank, he was too winded to stand up and fight.

"P-Please, just stop hurting my friends. I don't want to change."

 **Now, Frankie, y-you know when you joined this sport, you became a product of the sport, and when tools break they must be FIXED**

A spark of electricity cackled off his hands, one touch and it'd be over.

The electricity shut down with a flash of blue. The Sponsor turned to face the woman in the grey hooded overcoat. He stopped grinning as she smiled.

 **You are not a product, I do not need to be gentle, prepare to lose y-your head**

"You first." The Doctor said with a wink.

The Sponsor swung at the Doctor with intense speed, a quick spin kick pulverized twenty lockers next to her. Throughout the twisting dance of lethal blows, the Doctor kept the sonic fixed on his neck. The Sponsor decided he had enough. He charged in and banged his chest into the Doctor, knocking her into a corner. He stood in front of her, no real way to dodge his attacks any longer.

 **T-This is a business and you are not an employee, sorry for the inconvenience**

The Sponsor raised both arms and prepared to crush her entire body.

The Doctor did a quick sweep with the sonic screwdriver.

"Now, Max!" She screamed.

The Sponsor's glasses raised slightly in confusion before a red helmet smashed into his head and it went spiraling away. The body crashed with ease, the collar's platting had been completely loosened with well-focused sonic blasts.

Max and her team looked at the Doctor who coughed a bit and rubbed a bit of the blood that spilled on her chin.

"Max," she said. "As your team's new physician, I conclude that these advertisements are undermining your professional and personal lives. I think we should find better sponsors."

And with that, the Doctor had declared war on an entire sport franchise.


	4. Behind the Spotlight

When they entered the team's bunker, the Doctor said her sonic screwdriver scrambled whatever feed might be used to monitor them, hence why the Sponsors didn't bother bringing reinforcements. This allowed them all to get better acquainted, the Doctor decided to start with why they lived in such a nice domicile compared to their locker room. Max explained to the Doctor how, due to the nature of competitive sports, they were only allowed to live in a customized housing unit, a few hundred feet from the dome. It also was near the facility that housed the Sponsors, or at least that was where they came out when it was time to collect.

"So, you're trapped like animals in pens near a meat grinder," the Doctor said as she leaned back and took in all the news Max told her. "Was it always like this?"

"Not at first, no," Max said, she was the only one willing to talk to the stranger. "It happened about a year after the sport got underway. Rift Fighting became popular and suddenly a Sponsor came, he offered up money they say, more money than anyone's ever seen. They claim to just be in advertising but upper management vanished right after the deal. We've only seen the Sponsors ever since. All smiling, stuttering, and cold." Her voice grew deep with bitterness. "Once they zap you, they just drag you off into the dark. Sometimes, they don't even zap you and the screams carry down the halls. It's worse that way, especially when they stop."

The team looked down at the floor. Despite their clean-living quarters, it was clear that they basically lived as prisoners, slaves of the Sponsors.

"Well, Max, you and your friends seem smart enough to decide to take a ship and steer it, if my understanding of this quadrant is correct, anywhere the Hell else. Why stay?"

"It's not that simple," Frank said, massaging his semi-fixed shoulder.

"Never is." The Doctor leaned forward with a sigh. "So, what's wrong?"

This time, Lamina explained. She picked up a nearby remote and pressed a button. A digital screen popped up on the adjacent wall. It featured a collection of faces, all human, but some had green lights over their profiles. A slight shimmer in their eyes and a blank-soulless gaze explained the rest.

"We aren't the original crew," Max explained. "Every few years, the Sponsors come to our planets, drag us out of our beds. They like when we try to fight." She closed her eyes, the pain of that nightmarish night still clearly haunted her. "We're told that if we don't comply, they'll target our loved ones. I was luckier than most, never had a family, so… they didn't give me an option, just a quick zap." She breathed deeply, the Doctor could not imagine the strength it took to overcome that pain and lead these fellow prisoners. Max's shoulders shuddered as she struggled not to shed tears.

"You know what's really funny," Max said. "I actually kind of like playing this damn game."

The Doctor looked around, no longer seeing athletes but survivors who persevered through Hell. She'd do everything possible to make sure they wouldn't suffer any longer. Whatever Max saw when she looked at the Doctor brought a smile to the young woman's face.

"Wow, you hear something straight out of horror vids and all you do is give me a look like 'Bring It'. You're a tough one to figure out, Doc."

"I don't have anything near your strength," the Doctor said. "But I can make sure you don't need to use any more of it. With your permission, I would like to offer my assistance." She offered Max her hand. The reluctant Captain eyed the hand with confusion.

"Why do you think you need my permission?"

"Because this is your life, Max, and your choices must always matter."

Max almost wanted to laugh, but stopped. The Doctor wondered how long this woman, any of them, had ever been given anything remotely close to a choice. She gripped the Doctor's hand with strength built on a will to fight to the end.

"Okay," Max said. "Help us."

The Doctor nodded, and got to work.

"Lamina, can I have the remote?"

Lamina gave the Doctor the device and with a flash of the sonic screwdriver, the screen shrank and the space was filled with many other teams, also trapped in this game.

"There's something I'm not getting about all of this," the Doctor said. "They take players who are critically injured and upgrade them, make cyborgs that are faster and stronger, so why get more prisoners?"

"The upgraded ones don't stick around," Freddie said. "I've been stuck in this the longest, they took my brother when he started asking the kinds of questions that left two options, a place on a team or an unmarked ditch. It's crazy, how much I wish you weren't so good at sports, Frankie, you might be better off." He took a moment and continued.

"I heard rumors, they're soldiering them up, making some kind of army. They keep a few on the field, just to wreck the rest of us but never too many to keep the game feeling, get this, 'artificial'. We got a bunch of the bots, those ones you saw who we benched. That's our way of making sure we're not adding to the problem. We only know what happens to them, because Janice went through the procedure and we never saw her again."

"You say they're being turned into soldiers," the Doctor said. "So, they take people with physical prowess, make them gladiatorial celebrities so no one thinks anything's odd and slowly cycle them through this madness to make more warriors. Is there a conflict? I don't recall there being a need for soldiers in this century."

"In this what?" Max said.

"N-Never mind," the Doctor muttered. "Point is, what war is going on?"

"Not sure," Freddie said. "They do enough to keep us fed but we don't even know what year it is until the annual big match against the best of us."

"42 days and counting until 3013, Happy New Year." They said in monotone unison.

The Doctor had something to look into, but right now this nightmarish factory needed to be shut down.

"Is there ever a time when you can interact with other team members?"

"No," Frankie, "The Sponsors limit our interactions to only matches, we don't even have a cafeteria."

"But is there a spot used for something, like say, a cosmic disaster?" The Doctor got a sudden itch in the back of her mind as a plan formed.

"Yeah…" Frankie said. "I think they mentioned something in the guidelines in a brochure a fan wanted me to sign, that was the only bit of reading I've had in three years. I think it said that in case of like a meteor shower or whatever, there's a special shelter built up for us to use. Ours is separate from the crowds though, don't want to spoil the grand illusion of entertainment." He spat out on the floor, a smirk made the Doctor believe they weren't going to be the ones to clean the carpet.

"Okay," the Doctor said. "Well, I believe I have found the best way to misbehave. But it'll take some work. For one thing, Max, I need your help."

"W-What can I do?"

'You're the team Captain, that means something to the fans in case we run into civilians. Plus, I bet you've all studied the readout of this place in an attempt to escape. I'll get all the details from you in a bit but I need you, Max, to show me about and help me know where this factory is, if they're desiring players then you might be pre-coded for entry."

"That's a bloody one-way trip, Doc." Her voice became jagged. "I thought you promised we'd be safe?"

"In this kind of madness, all I can do is promise to help. But if we do this right, Max, I think I might be able to make sure no one else suffers. Together, we're going to end this."

Max fumed slightly but calmed herself, clearly options were limited but the Doctor reminded herself to not be so clever as to be deceptive to those she's trying to help.

"Fine," Max said. "What do you have in mind?"

This made the Doctor grin.

"I'm going to make it rain."


	5. A New Perspective

Max managed to accept that they weren't being followed once she and the Doctor reached the parking lot. She only saw glimpses of it in the last three years of her imprisonment, and now she walked on the actual tarmac, filtered air not controlled by the Sponsors filling her lungs, and a clear sky full of stars. Max kept her head down, fighting hard not to cry because her comrades couldn't experience this. She bumped into a few ships accidently and when they finally stopped, Max wondered if they hit a dead end. The Doctor leaned against a big blue box with the word POLICE USE ONLY at the top, smiling at her.

"You're some kind of cop, is that it?"

"Nope," the Doctor said. "It just looks like that, camouflaged."

"It's a big blue box in the center of a parking lot, how does that blend in?"

"Not sure, guess people have better things to do than complain about something that takes only three-feet of space in limited parking." She snapped her fingers and the door opened.

The Doctor motioned for her to go inside.

"Don't you think it's going to get cramped?" Max rarely felt bothered by her tight sport uniform but this woman… while pretty… was a complete stranger and being in closed spaces was not desired with strangers when wearing skin-tight attire.

The Doctor smiled like she had to hold back a joke and entered. Her footsteps echoed further than they should have, at least thirty paces if Max's ears could be trusted. Part of her considered the possibility that the Sponsors had hired this woman to be a lure, someone who promised escape only to upgrade their whole team. Who was to say that other teams hadn't suffered by similar offers from a soulless actor?

But those footsteps bothered her, nothing in the Sponsors' actions ever made it seem like they'd bother with this kind of deception. Going back meant death, but forward…

She walked up to the front door, prepped to bolt at the first sign or sound that screamed capture or death. Looking inside, Max thought she was finally going mad. She pulled her head back slightly and peeked around the outside of the box. Facing the opening, Max reached inside and touched the wall, recoiling as if it were on fire. Real, she thought, it was real. This word carried in her mind as she stepped inside, not even flinching as the door closed behind her. She gripped the railing, made a full circle around a center console, and nearly tipped down the stairs ( _stairs!)_ leading to corridors below. The Doctor watched her, grinning with arms crossed as if waiting for something.

"B-B-B—" Max almost thought she was going to vomit from the shock. She managed one word.

"…Big…" She struggled to at least stop herself from twitching.

"Bigger on the inside than the outside, yes," the Doctor said. "That seems to be the thing most notice when they come inside."

Max looked on the verge of blacking out but was too stubborn to fall into such a cliché. She simply looked directionless, that was what the Doctor saw from the first moment they properly locked eyes. The Doctor knew how to help.

"Would you like to see the rest of it?"

Max blinked and the world came back into focus. She jolted down to the lower floors and charged down one of the corridors in less than thirty seconds, talents of an athlete. The Doctor listened as she heard Max's shouting, gasping, yelling about a pool in a library, and eventually turned to see her walk back up to the console with wide eyes.

"How is this real?" Max said. "What is this?"

"A Tardis."

"Oh, well, _that_ explains it all." Max muttered.

"It stands for Time And Relative Dimension in Space," the Doctor spun around, flipping several buttons and levers before she pulled a grand switch. The Tardis lurched and Max almost fell on her face but caught the railing. "It can go anywhere and everywhere. Just takes the right touch." She grinned, playfully tapping several buttons.

"Okay," Max said. "So… where are we?"

"Right now, up."

She pressed as button and the door opened. The Doctor eyed several of the round things on the walls, nodding to herself as she did.

"Good, the Sponsors didn't make any space surveillance, that'll keep this unspoiled."

She gestured towards the door and Max carefully walked towards the entrance. The Doctor rushed over when the athlete looked like she was about to fall through. They stood outside the entrance, out among the stars with the arena far below. It was quiet, peaceful, and the stars were just within reach. This time, the tears came easily for Max.

"This is real." She gasped.

"Yes, Max, it is."

The two looked at each other and smiled. A slight flicker made Max look back down. Her joy turned acidic as she eyed the black tower 200 feet away.

"That's where the Sponsors come from." She glared at the tower. "No one knows when it popped up, so a lot people just assumed it's always been here."

The Doctor watched the tower calmly, a statue of pensive thought.

"I want to get a closer look," the Doctor said. "You mind helping me with something?"

The Doctor decided to not force her new friend to simply follow orders and explained what she had in mind. Max was surprisingly agreeable. She suspected it gave the athlete the opportunity to kill her if Max still harbored doubts about her new ally. Trust is formed on both ends by earning it.

Max gripped the Doctor by the ankles, amazed that a woman an inch taller could weigh so much. She planted her feet at the corners of the Tardis door and held on for both their sakes. The Doctor hung upside down, arms crossed and eyeing the tower.

"You *grunt* don't have ropes for this kind of thing?"

"Maybe, I honestly could tell you what's inside the Tardis. Just kind of piles up like spare socks. Sometimes, I've suspected she steals from places we go to. Especially when they misbehave."

Max had no clue what the Doctor was talking about, who was _she_? The Tardis? How or why did that make sense? If her lungs didn't give out before this was done, she might bother to ask before throwing the Doctor out of the Tardis next time… when they were on the ground.

"Okay, that'll do."

The Doctor pulled out the same device Max saw earlier and it flashed blue when aimed at the Tardis. Max heard something click behind them and the floor suddenly fell beneath her. She yelped, thinking they were about to fall, and then the Doctor flipped into the entrance and collided with her. They fell to the floor with the Doctor on top of her. She blushed slightly.

The Doctor's hair was… _really blonde_.

"Want to know what I saw, looking at the tower?"

"S-Sure."

"Good," the Doctor said standing up and pulled Max to her feet. "I didn't see a thing."

Max's blush from turned to a flushed expression of rage.

"You knew that when before you made me your sponsor?"

"I had a theory, yes," the Doctor said. "This just helped to confirm it."

The Tardis grumbled slightly, Max suspected 'She' didn't like the idea of the Doctor being given flying lessons. The fact that her entire team, the few people she could protect in this madness relied on this irritatingly… blonde woman could only excuse nonsense for so long. With a breath that was easy to gain without doing weightlifting, Max's irritation subsided and once again settled on the Sponsors. That she could focus on anything else gave her hope.

"That tower should have light reflecting off its surface, but nothing does. It takes in light, sound, you'd have to look at the thing to realize it even exists. Its camouflage is sublime." She grinned while explaining the details.

"Not exactly the words I'd use for the place that's slaughtering my friends, Doc."

The Doctor took a moment and stopped smiling.

"Sorry," the Doctor said. "I was smiling because I know how to stop them, Max. And we're going to save everyone, together."

That, at least, was something Max could agree with.

"Okay, Doc, I'm sold, just tell this plan's going do something besides get everyone killed? Where do we start?"

The Doctor walked over to the console, flipping switches and dragging levers down. With three button presses, she turned and walked past Max to look out the entrance.

"We start with this, make an emergency to get everyone together."

"Doc, what kind of em—"

Max stopped speaking as she eyed what was coming. She promised herself to stop getting surprised by what this mad woman did. It might take awhile, if they didn't die first.

"You are sure no one's going to get killed in this?"

"Of course, I arranged the algorithm myself," the Doctor said as she walked over and pressed a button on the console, Max felt bit more protected because of it. "The year 3,000; this is when spaceship insurance was covered for meteors right?"

She flipped a switch and it commenced.


	6. Former 'Patients' of The Doctor

**Attention attendees there's no reason—**

A massive meteor smashed through the ceiling of the arena, trapped in place by powerful forcefields.

 **Not to immediately relocate to the shelter below**

The Sponsors helped guide everyone to the arena below, they were potential customers to pay more money for future events. They needed to survive, for the sake of profit. Players were sucked down a hole and pushed into a massive shelter, a mile apart from anyone who could care about their predicament. The bombarding shower of meteors could be heard even far below ground.

"Well, at least we know that none of us have rides outside, otherwise this would be horrible." Frankie said, several of the players groaned.

"This is most disgraceful," one Sontaran player said. "We are trapped like cowards without a proper opportunity of dying in battle. And solar reports would have told us of a meteor shower. Who is responsible for this?"

"I believe I can claim that responsibility."

The Doctor walked in with Max right behind her. Her ally was quiet, they had made a point of agreeing that under the circumstances, they would not call her 'Doctor'. Max knew better than to ask why, someone who walked around with the kind of talents she wielded made many enemies.

"My name is Smith, Jane Smith. You all know Max, she has been a competitive force in the madness and has told me your situation. I can help."

The various players were quiet. Even Max's team were less enthusiastic. It seemed that stepping into the Tardis had altered the way Max saw things, how could it not?

"Are you the one who wielded the meteors?" a Silurian said.

"I am." The Doctor said.

Silence filled the room. Max could feel it being traded for another emotion. One that she didn't have a word for but the sensation was very familiar after dealing with Sponsors. Horror laced in rage.

"Is it you?" a member of the Slitheen family said, filed claws raised.

Others started to stand up, cold eyes burning down on the two of them.

"Max, step back." The Doctor said.

The athlete was reluctant but did as she was told. It should have been impossible to have so much anguish ignited from every corner of the room, most of these species were lightyears apart. But the Tardis…. if it could truly go anywhere and everywhere, the question stopped becoming if and instead became how much.

"Do I need to say it?" She said.

The groups were starting to take steady steps closer. At least 200 souls, with burning rage in their eyes. Even though they seemed confused by the face, they accepted something Max hadn't learned yet.

"Or is it enough to know that, for once, I'm here to save your lives?"

They all stopped, bodies tensed but prepped to tear them down the Doctor without hesitation.

"You've disgraced our people, our cultures, and efforts to gain power with blatant cruelty, Doctor, we should have ended things with the Pandorica." A Silurian said. "Clearly this must be handled personally."

The group regained their momentum, but the Doctor did not budge.

"If anyone thinks they won't follow me to the grave or worse, take your shot."

The Doctor did not raise her arms, had no gun, and yet the fear in the eyes of the players in front of Max was greater than anything seen when it comes to the Sponsors. But she remembered being in the Tardis, so much power and yet the Doctor didn't do anything really. She only put herself in the middle when most would have turned away. That fact fought with the fear in a similar way to how her fellow prisoners struggled with the truth of the Doctor's words, she was their only real chance. The aliens sat down in unison, eyes fixed on the Doctor, not daring to show their back.

"Hey, Doc," Max said. "Let's chat in the hallway, talk strategy."

The Doctor nodded.

"You're the Boss." She said. Two of them went around a corner and moved down the nearby corridor. They turned to face each other, the Doctor mimicked Max's act of pressing her body against the wall to keep combative distance with direct eye-contact.

"Pandorica, huh," Max said dryly. "Sounds awful."

"It was actually worse outside it." The Doctor said, not smiling or acting coy. Max seemed to appreciate this.

"You know, I grew up on Jaret V, a way-station planet, the kind of place where everyone is going somewhere. I hung around the docking bay, getting a good look at all the travelers, tons of them. Lots of men and women." She grinned a bit.

"Another bloody Jack." The Doctor muttered.

"What?"

"Long story, just forgot how 30th Century people… liked to dance."

Max raised an eyebrow, awareness dawning on her but shook it off. Not much to say, health benefits made having fun a safe luxury, no matter the visitor. She was curious about this 'Jack', but got back on track.

"One of the things the travelers talked about the most were the things to run from. They usually ran into two categories at the top of the list. Daleks were usually at the top."

The Doctor's eyes dilated, there was a flicker of fear and anger that hadn't been there when they faced the Sponsor before.

"They cursed Daleks loudly, but they whispered a different name too," Max took a step forward. "Time Lord." She said with conviction, without hesitation. The Doctor's face was fierce with fire burning in her eyes, but Max did not back down.

"'Time And Relative Dimension In Space', that's what you called your ship. Kind of gives it away."

"Most people in your time have only heard of Time Lords because of me saving the universe countless times."

"One person's virtues can't change how a planet looks, Doc. A whole planet of people who can be anywhere they want, it's a miracle anything's alive."

"Believe me, Max, it's hard to keep them reigned in but I do my best. Or have you not considered why no other Time Lords dare leave Gallifrey? You're looking at the reason."

"You," Max said as if trying to see the joke. "One woman, tough as you are, you expect me to believe a whole universe quakes at your presence?"

The Doctor gestured at the corridor they came from.

"A good chunk of those species are from warrior cultures, conquerors and destroyers, all trying to be on par with my people. They're mad because I stopped them from becoming 'superior', by being that line in the sand for when they misbehave and try to spoil the fun for the rest of us. It took making the name Doctor become synonymous with danger but despite it all I try to do good with it. I'm trying now, Max, nothing's changed except you knowing who you're glaring at."

Max was confused, if the Doctor was this powerful why bother talking about getting permission to help? If destroying evil was what counted, why not just strike the Sponsors with the meteors? But the Doctor's goal didn't seem to be destruction, otherwise their safety shouldn't have mattered, Hell, she should have lashed out instead of trusting their wish to survive would outweigh any old defeats. She wondered, in all these rumors of the horrors of Time Lords, how many of them had ever met the Doctor. Max realized she might actually be the only person on this planet to have a proper conversation with her. The Doctor seemed to be someone who never does anything without purpose, so she decided Max would be her connection to all of this. Max had no idea why or to what end, but if this helped everyone in that room…

With a sigh, Max closed her eyes as she settled on words that made sense before opening them. The Doctor waited, as if she had all the time in the world to wait for Max.

"We're all trapped here, Doctor, I get that you have bad blood with a bunch of them but not in this place. In this arena, we're all prisoners and I want everyone freed. Understood?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Perfectly, I'm here to help. It's nice to not just be helping humans for a change."

Max speculated if it just came easier to save what looked familiar, the satisfaction in the Doctor's eyes made her at least hopeful that this desire to help wasn't for show.

"Okay, Doc, let's go back and just… stand behind me." She shrugged with a smirk. Her smile vanished as genuine panic crossed the Doctor's face.

"Stand…" the Doctor murmured.

Her eyes went wide with horror, Max was beginning to learn to associate this with the absolute worst thing that could happen.

"Doctor, what is it?"

"Max, we need to be ready for the worst."

"I'll be ready for whatever, just tell me what's going on."

"Well, those players who stood up to possibly get payback, five of them didn't stand. They were wearing their helmets."

The words sounded petty but Max knew better. All the players took off the helmets, a sign of solidarity, that the Sponsors shackles had no hold on their souls. But, occasionally, one or more of the players were brought to the med bay and given a 'physical'. They usually were changed and never seen again. That was how they felt… safe…

"There's no way they could have guessed we'd chuck meteors like water balloons, Doc."

"No, no one expects to be able to do that, if everyone could do what I can the universe would be far worse for it. They didn't need to guess the attack, they know where you all end up."

The Doctor's words caused Max's heart to beat faster.

"I'm sorry, Max," the Doctor said as she pulled out her sonic screwdriver and flicked it to the highest setting. "It was careless of me. A meteor strike, such extensive damage, no one would be surprised… if the shelter for the players was 'hit'."

That was when the screaming began.

They gave each other a quick glance and charged towards the madness.

Inside, the Shelter had turned to absolute Hell. Sponsors had broken through the ceiling and were zapping everyone in sight. The fake ones, possible spies or sleeper agents, were dragging the panicked players away. Some were zapped but they allowed others to flay about and drag others to the floor to be scooped up. The Doctor managed to blast the head off of one Sponsor and Max saved a Sontaran but in less than a minute everything proved this could not be a fight they'd win.

"Run." The Doctor said while dispatching two other Sponsors. "This isn't where the day's saved but we got to remain free to do it."

Max wanted to scream and hit the Doctor, but she was a leader and knew when the game was fixed. Closing her eyes, hearing so many screams silenced instantly, she managed to open them and with gritted teeth hauled the Sontaran to his feet while shoving them all to the doorway. The Doctor raised her sonic screwdriver and slapped it against the entrance wall. A frequency rode up the wall and caused the ceiling to cave in. One Sponsor managed to dive through and grabbed the Doctor by the throat. The screwdriver stabbed into its neck and caused the machine to fall.

Standing, the Doctor took notice of how only twenty other players had survived. Max walked up to her, eyes full of rage, her entire team was gone. The Doctor half expected a punch but instead got two firm hands on her shoulders.

"We save them all," Max said, shaking. "We will save them all."

The Doctor latched onto Max in a firm hug.

"Yes, we will," the Doctor said. "I'm on your orders, Boss."

Max calmed down and they let go. There was no bad blood nor could there be if they planned to make a proper plan. That demanded being a team.

"What now, Doctor?" A Silurian said.

The Doctor knelt down next to the downed Sponsor, grinning after a moment.

"We end this."


	7. Due to Technical Difficulties

There wasn't a door to the black metal pillar jutting out from the parking lot. However, its reflective surface concealed hundreds of microscopic mechanical eyes that were designed to pick up objects of interest. It barely registered the blue box, because ships were not candidates. They did focus on a single Sponsor marching towards the base, whistling a tune, the remaining human candidate slumped over its shoulder.

 **H-Hello, got a fresh one here, ready to finish off the set**

The cameras relayed this information with indifferent data crunching, scanning the Sponsor for any form of complication, a fail-safe that never really mattered. It took a second to confirm that the Sponsor was free of all tampering, It functioned perfectly and followed the core programming. The machines within complied, opening their plating to let their operative inside.

Several Sponsors, designed for the surgical adjustments, waited a few feet inside. A railing similar to a double helix featured nearby candidates waiting to improved, all hanging limply by tight straps that supported their weight. No hooks or other support were necessary and risked damaging property. Their value could only be measured in the 'athletes' ability to be as physically whole as possible. They would be lifted up when all the players were scavenged and at the top of the tower the surgery would occur and they would then be delivered down an adjacent chute to a teleporter. The machines had no need to know their destination after that, only to prep the 'athletes' for the journey.

 **We shall fasten human female to the railing, proceed with procuring the remaining sets**

 **Prepare to recruit double for next shipment**

The Sponsor gave a quick salute and lowered the remaining human's body to the operators.

It paused before the transfer was complete. A small object was in the product's hand.

 **Say there, M-Missy, whatcha got t-there**

Max's eyes snapped open as she pressed a button on the device. A blue flash and all four Sponsor's heads blew up. She landed with a thud but shook off the pain as the Doctor charged in right behind her. Max tossed the screwdriver back to the Doctor while the Time Lord did a quick spin around the inside of the tower, catching it after a single rotation.

"Standard package and delivery facility. Typical." The Doctor said with a grimace.

"So, how'd they not read me?" Max said.

"The Sonic scrambled your bio, mistook it for 'unconscious'. And it's about to do a whole lot more." The Doctor said with a grin.

"You going to make a sonic boom or something?"

The Doctor scoffed.

"This is a scientific instrument, it does not make something go 'boom'."

"I've seen you use that thing to blow up the heads of Sponsors for the last five hours." Max pointed out dryly.

"Yes, with SCIENCE!"

The alarms inside the facility started to blare.

"They're going to speed up production, they've confirmed I'm an immediate threat."

"What's the play, Doc?" Max turned to see Sponsors charging down to them from a floor above.

The Doctor shoved her hand into Max's. The former athlete eyed what she gave her, a small gold key. It looked like something fit for a locker room.

"Run downstairs, trash the teleporter, and don't lose that key. It will save your life."

Or open a friendship locket, Max thought, but the clunk of metal footsteps was too close for comfort. She turned around and rushed downstairs while the Doctor rushed up, just ducking under the Sponsors who ignored her and focused on tearing apart their rebellious property. Lucky me, Max thought as she ran like Hell down the stairs. She wondered why Sponsors would even need stairs a split second too late and nearly fell to her death when flipping over a ledge. A fall that broke bones must be a gentle hop with mechanical legs.

Training kicked in and Max caught herself. It was still at least 10 feet from a hard metal floor promising only pain. A bright circle of blue light blazed below, an adjacent rail ran down to it and some unknown fate. No bodies were dropped onto transporter yet but she could guess it wouldn't be much longer. What's one athletic prisoner armed with a locker key to do against such evil?

A mechanical hand almost fried her skull, she dropped with a yelp and managed to slid down a metal beam used to support the upper floors. She got to the floor without too much drag on her skin thanks to the reinforced suit. There still needed to be a plan to cause some interference. Opportunity knocked against her leg when a machinal hand, dropped from above and almost broke her foot. The thing was still twitching, a slight cackle of electricity in its palm. A gift from the Doctor, she figured, and Max had an idea of how to use it.

Two Sponsors dropped down and spun to face her.

 **Now, Max, you know there's nothing done that we can't fix. Can't have our star athlete out of the games to come**

Max had no idea what the Sponsor was talking about, but nothing good could come from it. Then again, this might be last time she faced the mechanical horrors and something made her wish to speak words for all those who had no chance before.

"Okay be honest," Max said with a grin. "You all were parking meters that unionized."

 **Max, don't be rude**

"Fine, how about retired vending machines, stuck up traffic lights? Tell me if I'm close."

She ducked a swing that put a dent into the nearby wall, Max jammed the metal hand into the face of the Sponsor. It twitched violently and fell to the floor, Its companion charged forward over the fallen one without remorse, all that matter was the product.

"Final guess then," Max was cornered, the metal arm wrenched away and all light blocked about by the Sponsor's colossal form. "Parking garage gates, the kind with the long arms but you didn't like the heavy lifting."

 **MY OH MY, WHAT PETTY WORDS TO USE BEFORE LOSING YOUR FRONTAL LOBE**

Huh, Max thought, so they can get ticked off, should have led with can openers.

With the metal hand raised up in defense, Max prepped to face the worst with open eyes.

This helped her see a cable wrap around the Sponsor's neck.

The Doctor slid down and the Sponsor turned around to eye the new intruder. Its gaze turned up to the cable and noticed where it was connected. The Sponsor then stared at the screwdriver in the Doctor's hands.

 **AS REPRESENTATIVE OF RAMIFICATION NIGHTMARES, I AM CAPABLE OF OFFERING COMPRO—**

The Doctor pressed the button on the Sonic Screwdriver and something jolted to life above. Electricity sparked off the Sponsor's body as all the energy from Its body shot up towards the ceiling. Twitching, grinding, and finally exploding, the Sponsor's power killed energy in the tower. Max only saw darkness, and then heard a roar unlike any other. The Tardis formed around her and suddenly she was inside with the Doctor beside her.

"W-What just happened?" Max muttered, afraid to reach out and possibly vanish instead.

"We won," the Doctor said with a grin. "Well, we win by helping everyone but the Sponsors win, so yeah, collectively, this is going to be a good one." She walked over to the door and opened the Tardis. Outside the facility was still dark, Max felt a chill remembering all the unfortunate souls still hanging from the rail.

"They're alright, Max, in fact I'm about to try something no Time Lord has dared consider before."

She waved the Sonic Screwdriver outside and the railing just entered inside. The Doctor walked outside, motioning for Max to follow. When they left the Tardis, the Doctor waved the Screwdriver inside the box and the interior changed. The athlete watched this and actually smiled, for the first time in a long time she found something funny.

"Everyone in the pool." The Doctor winked in the hue of her Sonic as she aimed it up and all the bodies flew down the rails inside the Tardis with a thunderous splash. There were shouts, cries of confusion, and splashing from within confirmed everyone was okay and not drowning.

The Doctor watched, having made sure the Tardis's other rooms were closed off from inspection. Max joined the Time Lord and the Tardis closed.

"You know that door says 'pull' but you 'push' to open it, right?"

"Who am I to judge what my vehicle prefers, she has every right to do as she likes. Besides, if we argued with her there's a chance she'll dump us in a black hole."

Max shivered, eyeing the walls with uncertainty.

"Stick with your friends, Max, I'll finish up the rest."

The Doctor left her, security doors lifted up as she walked past and instantly closed again. Max rushed over to her comrades, they were struggling to process that this was indeed real and not the afterlife. Once that was settled by all, a small celebration occurred, claiming the Doctor had saved them all. They spoke about her as some mythical force, their grand savior. But Max couldn't feel the same.

She just saw a woman in a blue box who could be clever and also forget to consider rope. That image made her leave the party, everyone too preoccupied with celebrating to stop her. The security doors opened and closed behind her the instant she came close.

The Tardis was definitely a living being of some kind, Max managed to find her way to the main console with surreal ease as if guided there. She saw the Doctor tinkering away, pausing to look at her.

"You're missing the party." The Doctor said.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "But after three years of Hell, I guess I can't really celebrate until I see this done."

The Doctor, flipping a switch, grinned as the Tardis's inner gears started twisting. Max handled the lurch with much more grace. They stopped after a second, the two women walked towards the door that opened inside with a snap of the Doctor's fingers. Leaning out they saw the same scene as before, with the inclusion of a the parking lot littered with large holes and a massive meteor imbedded in the top of the stadium.

"You are an insurance agent's worst nightmare." Max muttered, amazing a few flicks of switched caused so much damage.

"Yeah, and they have tried billing me, but I am phenomenally hard to find and subpoena."

"They'd find a way." Max said pointedly.

"Perhaps," the Doctor said. "How about you flick that switch over there and finish this up?" The Doctor pointed to the red lever near the left of the console. Max walked over, ten steps and she was in front of freedom. The absence of this madness had become such an impossible thing that Max didn't know what else she had in her life. The world she called home had most likely moved on, her friends had lives but she was just drifting through life mostly. She could see the hint of stars in the sky and a woman who knew them quite well. With a small smile, she pulled the lever. Max ran back, happy she didn't get confused with the switches and blow them all up.

"So… what did I do?"

The Doctor pointed at the tower.

"Remember how I said that it absorbed light and sound, well I added another feature. That switch activated any nearby magnetrons, which is what I converted the Sponsor's tower."

"And that'll do what exactly?"

"Draw in metal," the Doctor said as she knelt down. "Do you know how many metals are inside a meteor?"

Max heard a massive groan, louder than the Tardis and watched with wide eyes as the meteor dislodged from the roof and crunched into the parking lot. It tumbled, pulverizing everything in its path, in a powerful rolling path of destruction straight to the tower.

"Isn't bowling fun when you're on the last pin?" The Doctor said.

The magnetron drew in its own doom and without a whimper of mercy crashed through the ominous tower and left nothing but scrap metal in its wake. And just like that, the nightmare was done. The uniform was just a petty costume, nothing special or powerful, and that made Max shout out with joy. Her voice carried through the cosmos, oblivious to the Doctor who went back to the console.

"We better get out of here," the Doctor said. "Lots of people who need to get home, but we also have a ton of people below who might want to try finding a lawyer. That's a force I am not interested in facing, ever."

Max stepped back and the universe was closed off from her sight. As the whirling prowess of the Tardis entered her ears, she wondered if it was okay to get used to that sound. Another voice in Max's mind chimed in.

Why not?


	8. Epilogue: The Accord

The Doctor had invited all her guests to take a well-deserved nap by releasing a specialized psychic field that compelled them to sleep. They would know about being imprisoned by mechanical Sponsors, about surviving a fate worse than death, but nothing of the Tardis. A special note next to each of their affiliated groups when they woke up would express a single message.

 _You're welcome_

 _-The Doctor_

Max's comrades had been happy to help carry the groups out, she had vouched for them but they also agreed to lose the memories of the Tardis. The fewer people who know the inside of this machine the better, the Doctor explained.

"There are dark forces who would figure out how to get close to what I have and that would lead to a lot of horrible things."

Max only had one example, someone could deliberately create a meteor shower that's aimed at innocent lives for kicks. This needed to be protected. She accepted the fact that once they got back on their planet, it would be her turn.

No more moments with a pretty blonde in her blue box that went everywhere and who could do anything.

But a thought entered her mind that would not go away.

It centered around the thing in her pocket, small but could alter her life forever. It already had. Now she just had to find the courage to ask.

"The weather's nice here," the Doctor said absentmindedly as she and Max helped her last comrade off the Tardis on Jaret V, she was surprisingly strong despite being only a little taller than Max.

"Yeah," Max said. "I actually can't believe it's Spring."

"A perfect day to come home." The Doctor said. One look was all it took to tell Max goodbye was not part the Doctor's plans. The window was closing fast.

Without really thinking about it, Max hurled herself in front of the door to the Tardis and cut off the Doctor from leaving. The Time Lord expressed surprise at this, but only mildly. Max was clearly not the first person to be trying this.

"You have a life here," the Doctor said. "You fought like Hell to get back to it. I won't steal that from you."

"Yeah," Max retorted. "Well, you can't pull it open if I'm blocking it."

The Doctor gave off a small grimace of annoyance. Exhaling, she stepped closer until their faces were an inch apart.

"That door behind you has endured wars, fire, and destruction the likes of which you should never dare to know." The Doctor snapped her fingers and the door swung inwards and Max had to latch onto the sides to not fall in. "Also, you don't pull it open."

"The sign says otherwise." Max said.

"There's the sign and then there's me, and _I_ say you deserve to rest."

There was something in the back the Doctor's eyes, a slight flicker of emotion that made Max wonder. A solitude in them that bordered on never knowing company that she hadn't lost. Something in the look made Max remember all the teammates the Doctor hadn't saved, the ones Sponsors had carried away with inhuman ease no matter how hard she fought. Tonight was the first time everyone got to live in a long time for Max. Whatever the Doctor did, it helped her to be capable of doing that. Max liked the idea of knowing how it worked too but that demanded first-hand experience and only one woman in the universe able to teach it.

The Doctor seemed to read her thoughts, she did say something about being psychic or maybe Max was easy to read. Perhaps she just knew what happened when you stepped into the Tardis.

"Well, you shouldn't have given me a key if you didn't expect me to use it." Max tried to grin, show confidence and definitely not the tinge of fear that threatened to pop to the surface. All it would take is one N-O and the game was done before it really started. The Doctor just watched with a calm expression, the serenity unnerved Max more than any rage.

"It'll be dangerous," the Doctor said. "Where I go, something always pops up."

"And you save people."

"On the good days… yes, but sometimes death can't be avoided. Not without endangering all of existence. We pick and choose when to meddle, with great care, and on occasion we will do some good. But that happens by working together. Understood?"

Max took a moment, processing what she'd faced today with the truth that if the stories were true that even worse evils walked among the stars. It would have to be faced with a courage she didn't know if she had. But one way to find out.

"Yes." Max's words carried what she hoped was every ounce of conviction she believed in her.

The Doctor smiled.

"Last thing," she said. "What's your last name?"

This made Max blink, it had been years since she needed use it, never thought she would again.

"Um, Lin. Max Lin."

The Doctor smiled and Max wondered what it would take to smile like that.

"Hello, Max Lin, I'm the Doctor. Behind you is the pathway to everything that ever was at any time. Adventure without limit and chaos beyond nightmares. But in between… something fantastic." Her grin widened, there seemed no end to it.

Max wanted to see how that could work.

"Nice to meet you, Doc," Max said. "So where to?"

The Doctor said nothing but gestured with her hand to go inside and find out.

They turned, Max standing aside, and they entered the Tardis together.

A satisfied chime filled the air before going to Its next destination. The was set; the Doctor, a companion, and the Tardis.

Destination, everywhere.


End file.
